Tired of manually posting updates, chasing approvals, or repeating the same tasks in Teams? You’re not alone. If you’re using Microsoft Teams every day and wish it did more of the boring stuff for you, this guide’s for you. We’ll walk through real, useful automations—no hype, no fluff, and you don’t need to be a developer. Whether you’re an IT admin, a team lead, or just the unofficial “person who knows computers” at work, you’ll find something here to make Teams work harder for you.
Why automate in Teams? (And when you shouldn’t bother)
Automating workflows in Teams can save you time and keep things from falling through the cracks. The catch: not everything is worth automating. If you only do a task once a month, setting up automation might take longer than just doing it. But for things you do every day, or that always get forgotten, automation can be a lifesaver.
Here’s what automation in Teams is actually good for: - Sending reminders or alerts (like “daily standup time!” or “the doc is ready for review”) - Moving info between Teams and other tools (think: copying a form response into a channel) - Approvals (vacation requests, expense reports, etc.) - Keeping files and data organized
Don’t automate just because you can. Start small, make sure it really helps, and build from there.
Step 1: Know your options—Power Automate vs. Built-in Teams Features
Before you dive in, you need to know how Teams handles automation. There are two main ways:
1. Power Automate (formerly Flow) - Microsoft’s automation tool that connects Teams to 100s of apps (Outlook, SharePoint, Trello, etc.) - Lets you set up “flows” (automated workflows) triggered by events, scheduled, or manual - Can get complicated, but also powerful
2. Built-in Teams tools - Basic automation like message scheduling, channel moderation, and “Approvals” app - Limited, but sometimes all you need
Honest take: For anything beyond simple reminders or approvals, you’ll need Power Automate. It’s built right into Teams, but can have a learning curve. Don’t get sucked into trying to automate everything—pick one pain point to solve first.
Step 2: Get the right access and permissions
Before you build anything, check: - Do you have access to Power Automate? Most business and education accounts do. Free Teams users: you’re out of luck. - Are there any org policies blocking automation? Some IT teams lock this down. - Do you have permission to install apps in Teams? If not, you’ll need to sweet-talk your admin.
Pro tip: If you’re not sure, open Teams, click “Apps” on the left, and search for “Power Automate.” If you can add it, you’re good. Otherwise, ask your IT person.
Step 3: Find (or build) your first workflow
Option A: Use a ready-made template
If this is your first go, don’t reinvent the wheel. Microsoft and the community have built tons of templates for common automations.
How to find templates: 1. In Teams, click the “...” (More added apps) on the sidebar and search for “Power Automate.” 2. Open Power Automate. Click “Templates” at the top. 3. Search for what you want (e.g., “Teams notification,” “when file added to SharePoint,” “reminder”). 4. Pick one that fits.
Popular starter templates: - Post a message to a Teams channel when a new file is added to a folder - Send a daily/weekly summary of tasks to a channel - Notify a channel when a form is submitted
Templates are a great way to learn—poke around and see how they’re built.
Option B: Build a workflow from scratch
If templates don’t cut it, you can create a custom workflow (“flow”). Here’s how:
- Open Power Automate from Teams or go to flow.microsoft.com.
- Click “Create” > “Automated cloud flow.”
- Give your flow a name.
- Pick a trigger (the event that kicks things off)—e.g., “When a new message is posted in a channel,” “When a file is created,” or “At a scheduled time.”
- Add actions—what you want to happen. These can be:
- Post a message to a Teams channel
- Send an email
- Create a task in Planner
- Move/copy files
- Save and test.
Pro tip: The hardest part is figuring out the trigger. If you get stuck, Google “Power Automate [your trigger idea]” and you’ll usually find someone who’s done it.
Step 4: Build a real-world example—Automatic meeting reminders
Let’s build something actually useful: a recurring Teams reminder for your weekly meeting.
How to do it:
- Open Power Automate in Teams or at flow.microsoft.com.
- Click “Create” > “Scheduled cloud flow.”
- Set your schedule. For example, every Monday at 9:00 AM.
- Add a new step:
- Search for “Teams.”
- Choose “Post a message in a chat or channel.”
- Select the team and channel.
- Write your reminder message (“Don’t forget: Weekly team meeting at 10am!”)
- Save and test. You can run it now to check if it works.
What works: This is dead simple, and Teams will post like clockwork.
What doesn’t: These reminders aren’t very “smart”—they won’t check who’s attending or skip holidays. If that’s important, you’ll need more complex logic (which is possible, but gets hairy).
Step 5: Test, tweak, and avoid common headaches
Don’t assume your automation will just work. Always test with a dummy channel or a small group first.
- Double-check your triggers—one wrong setting and your flow might never run (or spam your channel).
- Be careful with permissions. If the flow uses your account, it’ll break if you leave the company or change roles.
- Watch out for “run limits.” Free Power Automate plans only allow so many runs per month. If your automation is noisy, you’ll hit the cap.
- Don’t overdo notifications. Too many bots posting in channels and people will tune them out.
Honest take: Most automation fails because it’s too ambitious or nobody maintains it. Start with one or two small, high-impact workflows.
Step 6: Manage and improve your workflows
Once your automation is running: - Check the run history in Power Automate to see if it’s working (or erroring out). - Edit or disable flows easily from the Power Automate dashboard. - Document your automations somewhere (even a simple Teams Wiki page), so others know what’s running and why.
Pro tip: Review your automations every quarter. If nobody’s using one, kill it. If a process changes, update the flow.
What about approvals, forms, and bots?
There’s plenty more you could automate in Teams, but here’s the quick and honest take:
- Approvals: The built-in Teams Approvals app is good enough for basic stuff. If you need multi-step approvals or custom forms, Power Automate is better, but can get messy.
- Forms: You can use Microsoft Forms to collect info, then send results to Teams via Power Automate. Works well for simple surveys.
- Bots: Unless you’re a developer (or have one handy), building custom bots is overkill for most teams. Stick to what’s built in, or try Power Automate’s chatbot tools if you’re feeling brave.
Quick wins (and things to skip)
Start with these: - Automated reminders for regular meetings or deadlines - Alerting a channel when a new file is added or a form is filled - Simple approval requests via the Approvals app
Skip (for now): - Overcomplicated multi-app workflows (unless you really need them) - Anything that requires custom code or paid connectors unless you’re ready for more complexity
Wrap-up: Keep it simple, fix what’s annoying
Automating Teams can genuinely save you time and hassle, but only if you keep it focused on real-life problems. Start with one annoying, repetitive task. Build something small that works. See if people actually use it. Iterate—or kill it if it’s more hassle than help. Don’t let the shiny features suck you in. Make Teams work for you, not the other way around.
If you get stuck, Microsoft’s docs and forums are pretty active—and there’s always that one person in IT who likes a puzzle. Good luck!